Petit Livre d'Amour


The Petit Livre d'Amour is a collection of love poems, written in c. 1500 by , an antiquary and valet de chambre of Louis XII
The poems extend to 18 folia and are followed by an 18th-century transcription of the same poems.
It is dedicated by the author to his mistress and future wife, Marguerite Bullioud.
The poems are in French, except for one in Italian, Segua piano filliolo myo.
The manuscript also includes 13 miniatures in colours and gold, the one on f. 6r depicting Pierre Sala dropping his heart into a marguerite flower. Each miniature is facing a quatrain inscribed on a placard or scroll, accompanied above and below by the initials 'M' and 'P'.
The miniature on f. 17r is a portrait of Pierre Sala. The painter is identified as the Master of the Chronique scandaleuse, except for the portrait, attributed to Jean Perréal.
Manuscript measures are 13 cm x 9,5 cm and it was protected in a small case made of wood and golden green leather.
The manuscript was formerly in possession of Jean-Andoche Junot, Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, of Stowe House, near Buckingham and his son Richard Plantagenet, who in 1849 sold it to Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham. It was acquired by the British Museum with the other Stowe manuscripts in 1883. A high-quality facsimile of the manuscript was published in 1994.
2015-2016
The manuscript and its case are lent to French Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, for exhibition 'Lyon Renaissance. Arts et humanisme' from October 2015 to January 2016.